Day 6 – Our last day at the clinic in Riobamba
Written by Shuhan Wang, MS4 This is a hard post to write because today is our last day at the clinic in Riobamba. Over the span of this week, our team completed over 600 appointments at the ophthalmologic office, performed cataract removals and other sight restoring surgeries for approximately 85 patients (ranging from 3 years old...
Day 5 – Riobamba
Written by Shuhan Wang, MS4 Hey everyone! Today, we helped remove cataracts for 21 more patients and distribute 150 eye glasses in an abandoned school thirty minutes outside of Riobamba! I met two interesting young cousins in their early 40s, Jose and Carlos, who have retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a genetic condition that results in progressive loss...
Day 4 – Riobamba
When you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life. This sentiment rings true for us during this mission. While the days can be more than 12 hours long and we are running on just a few hours of sleep, we feel very much invigorated and enormously satisfied at...
Day 2 in the Mountain town of Riobamba
Written by Shuhan Wang, MS4 My eyes popped open with an inexpressible excitement before my alarm could go off this morning. My phone read 6:10am. Outside our window, the mountain town of Riobamba was just slowly waking up. It was difficult to fall asleep last night, thinking about what was in store for us this coming week. With the...
Day 1 – Buenos dias from the Andean highlands of Ecuador!
Written by Shuhan Wang, MS4 Buenos dias from the Andean highlands of Ecuador! After more than 24 hours of traveling, our 2018 cataract surgical mission team has finally arrived in Riobamba, a city known locally as the “Sultan of the Andes”. Situated at 2758m above sea level, Riobamba rests in a valley surrounded by...